NRI cabbies to exceed Australia-born in 2014
Monday, 25/11/2013
http://paper.hindustantimes.com/epaper/viewer.aspx
SYDNEY: The number of Indiaborn taxi drivers will soon exceed Australia-born cabbies in Australia, a media report said on Sunday.
India is set to emerge next year as the country of birth of most number of automobile drivers — made up of cabbies and chauffeurs — news.com. au reported, citing Australian Bureau of Statistics data.
Australian- bor n workers make up less than half of all workers in low-paying, manual professions like sewing machine operators and clothing trades workers. However, Australian is still the most common nationality among those employees.
The number of Indian taxi drivers rose from around 2,000 in 2006 to 6,000 in 2011, which the report partly attributed to Australia’s success in attracting Indian students to its education system.
“There’s been a big push to sell education in Australia to the sub-continent, which has produced a large number of sub-continent students looking to make a bit of money on the side,” said David Chalke, social analyst and consultant to AustraliaSCAN, a market research organisation.
As per the Australian Bureau of Statistics census data, an Indian-speaking taxi driver is more likely to have finished high school than an English-speaking one.
“There aren’t necessarily the jobs available in the area (in which the students graduate), so they end up driving taxis. A lot of those education visas were those that allow you to graduate and then work,” Chalke said.
According to the census report, between 2006 and 2011, Australian-born taxi drivers declined by around 1,400, while Indian-born drivers increased by more than 4,000.
Chalke said South Australia and Victoria are home to more India-born cabbies.
Punjabi cabbie Lakhwinder Singh Dhillon had set an example of honesty last month after he returned 110,000 Australian dollars (around ` 65 lakh) to a group of passengers who had left the cash in his taxi.
